Betty and Harold have been married for years .But one thing still puzzles   old Harold .How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa ,talking ,go out to a ballgame ,come back three and a half hours later ,and they're still sitting on the sofa ? Talking ? What in the world ,Harold wonders ,do they have to talk about ? Betty shrugs .Talk ? We're friends . Researching this matter called friendship ,psychologist Lillian Rubin spent two years interviewing more than two hundred women and men .No matter what their age ,their job ,their sex ,the results were completely clear :women have more friendships than men ,and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is "marked and unmistakable ." More than two -thirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend. Those who could were likely to name a woman .Yet three-quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend ,and almost always it was a woman .More married men than women named their wife/husband as a best friend ,most trusted person ,or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress  ."Most women ,"says Rubin ,"identified   at least one ,usually more ,trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment ,and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives ." "In general,"writes Rubin in her new book ,"women's friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support ,but men's relationships are marked by shared activities." For the most part ,Rubin says ,interactions  between men are emotionally controlled -a good fit with the social requirements of "manly behavior ." "Even when a man is said to be a best friend ,"Rubin writes ,"the two share little about their innermost feelings .Whereas a woman's closest female friend might be the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage ,it wasn't unusual to hear a man say he didn't know his friend's marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on... The research done by psychologist Rubin centers around  _   . A) happy and successful marriages B) friendships of men and women C) emotional problems in marriage D) interactions between men and women .
B

Online shoppers would rather receive an offer for a product or service than make their own offer3according to a study led by a Michigan State University scholar that has implications for the fast-growing e-commerce industry. The findings may come as a surprise given that shopping online is an anonymous process that seemingly can give consumers more confidence to drive a hard bargain,said Don Conlon ,Professor of Management in MSU's Broad College of Business. But the study found that participants who made their own offers were less successful in sealing the deal and ,when they were successful?worried they overpaid Many shoppers found the process of researching an offer to be a hassle. " Americans are very busy,and it's less time-consuming to be the one receiving the offer rather than the one proposing the offer  " Conlon said.uPeople tend to be happier when they're in the receiver role. " Online spending in the United States is expected to jump 45 percent in the next four years, from $ 226 billion this year to $ 327 billion in 2017,according to Forrester Research Inc. Nevertheless, researches into this prosperous market remain largely focused on the strategies of companies, rather than those oPS shoppers. Conlon's study is ,obviously, a rare exception. Conlon got the idea for the study after considering the difference between two popular sites for hotels and airline flights, priceline.com, which takes bids, and hotwire.com ,which provides offers. Using these two models ,Conlon and his fellow researchers conducted a series of experiments with more than 850 people who were charged with booking a fictional hotel room and acquiring a fictional antique car. Not only did participants prefer to receive bids, Conlon said ,but they also secured more deals in that receiver role. Further ,when they had to make the bids ,they were left more mentally _ and regretful. From an industry perspective,putting customers in the receiver role may help fill more hotel rooms and airplane seats. "If you're a business with a lot of... What can we learn from Para. 1? A) The result of the study gives customers more confidence. B) Scholars aren't surprised at the findings of the study. C) Online shoppers don't bargain as much as expected. D) E-commerce industry drives more hard bargains.
C

I am a manager who is in charge of taking care of the elderly and many of my clients live out of state. This year, a very sweet old lady that I care for, Alice, had gone through a particularly rough time. She had been in hospital twice. In November I was finally able to get her back to her "home" into an "assisted living facility" . Alice has dementia  and thought her daughter was coming to visit her on Christmas day and that they were going to have the whole family together like the old days. When she finally realized that the happy moment was not going to happen, she was so _ . Knowing that her daughter was coming after Christmas was not enough to cheer her up, I hated the idea of her being alone on the holiday! On Christmas Eve, I gave her a surprise by asking if she would like to go to a candlelight service at church that night. Instead of taking her to my church, I took her to her old neighborhood church where all her friends were. We got there early and I got each of us a seat where her friends could see her as they came in. The plan worked out very perfectly. All of her friends seemed to be there and rushed over to greet her and sit with her. The candlelight service was a beautiful, tearful affair and Alice got a lot of hugs and love from her old and new friends there. The truth of the story is that I am the one who got the best gift:the smile on Alice's face and the feeling that I made a difference. What was the best gift that the author got on Christmas Eve? A) Holding the party B) the praise given by Alice's friends C) Alice's happiness D) His concern for Alice

C